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~*~*~Blog Tour~*~*~ The Kiss by Erica M. Christensen

**Mature Content Warning** Recommended for ages 17+ due to language and sexual content.

Twenty-four year old Addison Allmon went from Jimmy Choo shoes to Cowgirl Boots in just a matter of a couple weeks.

She had the life she’d always wanted, until it was all ripped away….

Addison lost her license due to drinking and driving, got laid off from her awesome marketing job at the hottest company in Southern Florida, and lost her fiancé Carlos to the pool boy.

The year is coming to a horrible end and she’s forced to move back to her hometown of Norton, IA and live with her mother.

While back home, Addison runs into her old best friend Stephen. Out of nowhere, sparks begin to fly, and things between them start to heat up. The only problem is…

Stephen is engaged.

Addison decides the best way to drown her sorrows is in alcohol. So she heads out on the town by herself for New Year’s Eve.

Lucas, a sexy tattooed man, catches Addison’s eye. They dance, make jokes, and even make a playful bet that Addison accepts thinking all will be forgotten by morning–thanks to a night of heavy drinking.

Will Addison find new love with Lucas? Or will she find a way to win Stephen over once and for all?

CHAPTER ONE

“Addison, my dear, take a seat.” My boss, Shelly Lewis, says while clicking her obnoxiously long hot pink acrylic nails onto her keyboard. I can’t understand how people can willingly get fake nails that are four inches long. It’s just so gross to me. Shelly scoots back in her leopard print leather swivel chair and clasps her hands together. This is going to
be really good or really bad.
“I just wanted to let you know that you’re one of the best employees that we’ve ever had here…” Hell yes! I knew it! It’s going to be really good. Hopefully this means bitch face Brittany is getting canned finally and I’m getting promoted to the Marketing Director, but if not, at least a raise that’s more than a damn nickel would be fantastic.
“…I’m truly sorry to tell you this…” Wait, what? That definitely escalated quickly. “…unfortunately we have to cut back on staff due to the economy, and as a result, your position is the first to be eliminated. There aren’t any open positions available for you at this time, but I will contact you as soon as something opens up.” My heart stops, and my
smile quickly fades.
“I’m sorry, Addison, I’m so very sad to see you go. But on a brighter note, you’re young and you’ll find something easily!” Shelly gives me a warm smile, pulls a tissue out of her fancy leopard print covered tissue box, and hands it to me.
Is this real life? I’m being laid off from my job two weeks before Christmas? This has to be some sort of fucking joke.
“Well, thank you for giving me this amazing opportunity. I loved working with you, Shelly, and everyone else here.” Tears start to fill my eyes. I grab the tissue from her, pull a few more out of the fancy box and walk out of her office. Merry fucking Christmas to me. I grab my cell and call my fiancé, Carlos.
“Carlos, baby! Can you come pick me up from work, I have some terrible news.” I sob uncontrollably. Carlos has to pick me up from work because my dumb ass thought it’d be a brilliant idea to drink and drive last weekend, the hot policeman did not. This year is obviously ending well, I just pray this isn’t an indication of what the new year has in store for me.
“Uh yeah, I’m kinda tied up with something right now. I, uh, I’ll be there in…ugh—” he pants and grunts. I can hear muffled moaning in the background, like sexual moans, but it doesn’t sound like a female’s muffled moans.
“Carlos, what the fuck are you doing? Where are you?” I holler. I see a taxi coming up and wave it down.
“I’m working out and I’m at home! I’ll be there in thirty minutes— chill!” he shouts back. None of this sounds right to me. For one, Carlos never seemed too busy for me when I called him before and he definitely never put working out before me. Two, he never fucking works out at home, he always goes to the gym.
I hand the taxi driver $200 for a five-mile drive so he’d hurry, and he did. I had him drop me off halfway down the block so Carlos wouldn’t hear a vehicle pull in. I slip out of my heels and power-walk into the
house. I can still hear moaning, groaning, and manly screams. I storm up the white spiral stairs to our bedroom and find my fiancé face down, ass up, naked, while the pool boy plows him from behind. This is ludicrous!
“ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME, CARLOS? WHAT IS THIS?” I scream. The pool boy is startled and falls off the bed, then hurries to grab his clothes off the floor to cover himself. Carlos’s skin goes from a caramel brown to a maraschino cherry red. He frantically grabs the sheet and wraps it around himself.
“Baby, it’s not what you think,” Carlos says in his sexy Hispanic accent, but I’m not falling for that shit.
“It’s not what I think? You were just fucking our pool boy! How long has this been going on? Jesus Christ, Carlos! I can’t believe this, I can’t believe you! We’re done!” I shout. Carlos tries to comfort me by reaching his hand out to grab my shoulder, but I push him away.
“We’re not done, Addison. No one will know about this. You have a life anyone would die for. I don’t give a fuck what you do, sleep with other men. I won’t care, I promise. Do what you want, Addison, but we can’t call off the wedding. No one can know about this. We have to get married! Please, Addison! Whatever you want, you can have it. Do you want those new Jimmy Choo pumps you were telling me about? Please, Addison! ANYTHING AND IT’S YOURS!” he pleads.
I wipe the tears from my eyes. “Why, Carlos? Why can’t anyone know
about this? Being gay is far more accepted now. So why the fuck can’t anyone know? Why would we still get married?” I start to bawl uncontrollably again.
“My dad can’t find out. If he finds out I’m gay I will have nothing. He’ll disown me, then fire me, and then I’ll never inherit the real estate agency when he dies. That company is my life, Addison!” He starts to cry. This was the first time I’ve ever seen him cry and it makes my blood heat to a rolling boil. We never fight, ever. So I guess that’s why he’s never cried in front of me. His cry face is repulsive, I want to vomit. The sound of his crying and pleading makes me want to spartan kick his ass
straight out of the window. I feel more hatred toward him than I do toward my sad excuse of a father who up and left me and my mom when I was seven.
“No, Carlos! The wedding is off! This is the lowest thing you could have ever done to me. I trusted you. I loved you, I was head over fucking heels in love with you! Or maybe it was just the materialistic shit that I loved because I was completely drowned in it. I moved here to start over and I ended up right back where I was before. I’m not pretending
anymore. I’m not pretending for you. I can’t. It’s over.” I glance at the pool boy just sitting in the corner of the room with his head between his legs as if he’s embarrassed. I turn to walk out the door.
“If it wasn’t for me you wouldn’t have anything! You’d still be sleeping on couches at your random friends’ houses. You wouldn’t have all of your Gucci or Versace. You wouldn’t have shit, Addison! YOU NEED ME AND I NEED YOU!” Carlos shouts.
I turn back to look him in the eyes. “I’m done. We’re done.”
“Please, Addison! Whatever you want, you can have it! You name it and I will buy it! No one has to know. We’ll keep living how we’ve been living and everything will be okay. Right? We can do this, baby. You’re my best friend, I still love you. Please, Addison, please!”
“You have destroyed me, Carlos. You have no idea what you’ve done, and you will regret fucking me over.” I take my phone out and snap a picture of Carlos, naked in the sheet, and the pool boy, naked in the corner, and send it to his dad.
“Oh no! Oh hell no, Addison! Give me that phone. Don’t you dare send that to my father! I swear to God, I will throw you right back in the gutter I picked you up out of!” His voice shakes and he clenches his fist.
“I’d rather look like I have nothing and be loved and happy than look like I have everything and be lonely and miserable. So screw you and your million dollar house. Keep my Gucci and Versace and everything else. I don’t need it and I sure as hell don’t need you! All I need are my jeans and cowgirl boots.”

Erica was born and raised in the Heartland of America. She’s the proud mother of two little girls, Charlie and Ryan. When she’s not singing and dancing to Disney’s Frozen with her little girls, she writes. Erica is an author at Limitless Publishing and has self-published a small collection of poetry which landed on Amazon’s Best Sellers in Women’s Poetry list. Erica is not fond of chocolate, unless it’s with peanut butter. She obsesses over Eight O’Clock Hazelnut coffee and Mexican food.